Perception

A short preface: When we left Houston yesterday, it was 74 degrees and painfully muggy...to the point where loading presents into the car left me glistening with what I assume was sweat, but it felt more like funk from the air settling on to my body. Needless to say, escaping Houston was the best gift of all this holiday.

When I woke up this morning, Abby looked out the window and exclaimed excitedly: "It's snowing!" And sure enough, there is a howling, wet, cold, snowy mess congregating in the great city of Abilene. Cars, houses, roads, and people who stand still for too long end up covered in the white stuff, giving A-Town an ethereal look to compliment my first Christmas Eve as a married dude.

The funny thing is, I would go outside and walk around in this and revel in the goodness all morning. Coats and hats are beautiful things. My wife, and the rest of my family, would rather sit inside and watch it through the windows, almost like a zoo where it's fun to look but not touch. The snow is an inviting, beautiful gift from God to me, and a wet nuisance to everyone else. It's all in the perception.

So imagine you are a member of the 1st century Jewish elite (I know, not a hard stretch is it?) and you're waiting for a sign from God, ANY SIGN, that His promised Messiah is coming. You start to hear reports of a child being born, angels visiting, and strange cosmic harbingers that maybe, just maybe, will signal the end of the suffering and oppression. And then, you finally make it to Jerusalem and find this child...and he is a poor child born in a barn to an unwed mother who supposedly is a "virgin." You may be a Jewish priest and not a physician, but you know thats unlikely at best.

You would be crushed! This isn't a king, a warrior, a Savior! This is a weak, poverty stricken child whose father is a carpenter! And then later on, he becomes a carpenter, meaning he took up his family's trade and probably passed on being a true rabbi, which at the very least should be a necessary step in leading the Jews to salvation. This is a waste of time and a waste of hope...another year gone without help from a supposedly caring God.

On the flip side, imagine you are a poor Jewish person, or even later on, a Gentile believer, who has been excluded from society and never given an inch of anything in your life. You are under the regime of a tyrannical king who would just as soon kill you than actually fix your problems. You've been told there is a Savior, a new King, who has come to save EVERYONE. He specifically mentions the poor, the meek, and goes out of His way to love those who may have never felt love. This is a ruler, with power and authority, who gives His life in order that everyone may spend eternity with Him. This is an amazing gift, and a sign that God truly cares about us all!

Jesus' life is all about perception. Those who had a set idea of what a Messiah was "supposed" to be were disappointed and gave up. Those who saw the gentle carpenter for what He was--the embodiment of love and peace--had abundant life.

So when you see Christmas, and specifically see Christ in other people, do you see a nuisance, or do you see love? What is your perception of Christ and His sacrifice?

"Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." Luke 7:22-23

Flat-Lined

For a long time, whenever I discussed art history I basically skipped from the earliest known records (like the Venus of Willendorf...woof.) right past the Middle Ages and straight to the Renaissance. The Renaissance harnessed the Classical power of the human form noted in amazing Greek and Roman sculpture with a new-found respect and love of color: vibrant, rich, passionate hues that give life to those lucky enough to be captured by them. From then on, it was always Renaissance, Baroque, Romantics, Impressionists, etc., etc., until the Fauvists and Modernists made me aesthetically unhappy.

Upon further reflection, however, the art of the Middle Ages possesses more than I ever wanted to give it credit for revealing. There is something to be said for the passion and love of showing a rudimentary, yet loving, Christ. The Middle Ages produced art that was flat, fairly monotone in color, and completely lacking of dazzling depth or style. Even the composition was a bit stunted. And yes, it's 2-D, something James Cameron would surely scoff at and mock. Yes, the colors leave something (or everything) to be desired. But in those simplistic drawings and paintings, there is love. There is the pain of a Savior in anguish, compassion of a Lord who loves the unloveable. I'm not sure Jesus would be comfortable with his powerful radiance in Raphael's Ascension or even being the center of attention in The Last Supper.

There's something to be said about a King who preferred peasants over worldly royalty, who picked poverty over wealth, who chose death over what the world sees as power. I think the various artists of the Middle Ages got that message--Christ was someone who preferred to be in the background, loving, serving, and giving. His message wasn't contained in the show, the color, or the presentation, but in the emotion and devotion behind the scenes. I think He would have been drawn to the flat, colorless, almost cartoonish pieces of art because they came from the heart.

In the same way, we need to get back to the heart of the matter in our service of God. Whether songs like Heart of Worship or the story of the Pharisees in Luke 11:

"Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.

"Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

Jesus is calling the Pharisees out because they care more about the show than the action; more about appearances than the heart. We have that problem today, the same problem I suffer in Art History: we care more about the outside than the inside, more about the pretty colors than the meaning. Jesus rages against that machine more than once, but its a message we let slip through our fingers all the time.

So here's to a flat, bland, disproportionate Savior, willing to do the dirty work and die so that I might live a deep, colorful, full life in His service. Amen!

"I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
I cannot stand your assemblies.

Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.

Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.

But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!" Amos 5:21-24

Giving Thanks

My first holiday as a husband has been much more...entertaining?...than normal. For the entire week I haven't slept in the same bed two nights in a row, have gone from Houston to Canton to Plano back to Canton and then back to Houston, and worked much more than I wanted to, both on my school and my job. However, even with the chaos, I wouldn't trade it for anything. More responsibility means more stress, but it also means more things to be thankful for. So, in no particular order, here are my things for which I am thankful:

*My God...for loving me even when I'm not worthy.

*My wife...for the same reason.

*My family...both the new members and the old. You all make life exceptionally better!

*My job...being able to provide for all of the above.

*My friends...for being able to talk about football and life from hundreds of miles away.

*Everything else that I either don't feel like listing out or have forgotten.

So for everything...thanks.

"Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name." 1 Chronicles 29:13

What if...

The weird thing about going through the Bible verse by verse, in an academic sense, is that the little idiosyncrasies stick out like sore thumbs. Verses that we usually skim over, because they don't make sense or don't seem to add much to the story become flashing bright lights. Stories that are obviously connected flow together like a river of God's love for us instead of the little water bottles of refreshment we usually get.

Just the other day we read the story of Aaron's staff budding. We usually use that pericope to talk about how God chooses us and stands behind us and blah blah blah...all great points, but missing a little bit of what God is getting at. Right before that story, Korah, Dathan and Abiram rebel against Moses and, to make a long story short, are disposed of in creative ways. The big three are swallowed up by the earth, which then promptly closes back over them, effectively burying them alive. Their council of 250 elders is burned up by the fire of the Lord, and everyone who complains because this happened is hit with a plague. So we have earthquakes, fire from heaven, and plagues, and nothing seems to phase the Israelites. They still complain just as much as before, are still indignant, and generally don't change demeanor at all.

Aaron's staff buds because God is trying to silence the complaining and bickering. In fact, He says the reason this happens is to prevent the Israelites from dying. They've pushed Him so far that He's about to snap and He wants to control His anger. The weird thing is...THIS is the instance that causes the Israelites to go bonkers! Almonds growing out of a piece of dead wood! Giant chasms in the earth, fire raining down from heaven, killer plagues...meh. Almonds? RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!

I can't get over the pathetic nature of the Israelites. Every story we read, the farther we delve into the story of the Israelites, the more and more depressed I get reading about their ignorance. I can't fathom how stupid they must have been to see the miracles and love of God with their own eyes--miracles and wonders we can't even imagine--and still want to walk away.

Oh wait. Yes I can.

My freshman year of college I went with some friends and my family to see !Hero the Rock Opera, a modern day telling of the birth of Christ. Set in Bethlehem, PA instead of Israel, it shows exactly how our world would react to a modern-day Savior. We'd build him up using the media, then tear him down and dispose of him. On the way home, we talked about how we would respond if we were there...simple question: Would we believe? Sadly, the consensus answer was no.

I think the reason the Israelites irritate me so is because I know how they feel. I see God everyday, whether in large miracles or small whispers, and yet there are times everyday that I turn against Him. That I stop listening to Him. That I let myself get in the way of His plan...that I get freaked out by almonds.

I have got to stop letting the world get in the way of my relationship with God. He throws earthquakes, fire, and pestilence at me, but I still ask questions and fight Him. And when my faith is weak, something small and innocuous (like almonds!) can drop me to the turf. Good thing I don't have to ask "What if..." I know God is alive and His Son died for me.

That's refreshing enough for me.

"This is the confidence that we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." 1 John 5:14

Transcendence

I've watched two very different football games in the last 24 hours. I'm writing this before the UT/UO (yes, it is the University of Oklahoma. They go by OU because they can't spell) game ends because if it goes south, I'll spew vitriol and that's not the point.

Last night we had the Westbury Christian homecoming game against Lutheran North. Unfortunately for the festivities, we got trounced 40-12. The men played hard, but between injuries and academic issues, we were just undermanned. It was a valiant effort. What struck me is that the outcome of the game seemed to not really affect the demeanor of the crowd and the student body. At the Chocolate Bash afterwards, there was a palpable sense of excitement, even though the guys were disappointed. We had a fantastic crowd, the kids were playing around and talking, the faculty stayed up past 10 o'clock for once (and didn't complain too loudly)...it was a great time. We knew that there was something more important in life than the outcome of a football game, even if it's the homecoming game.

On the second drive during the Texas game today, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, an amazing QB, Christian, and friend to Colt McCoy (the UT quarterback and his biggest rival), was hurt again. In the first game of the season he hurt his shoulder, and worked extremely hard to get himself back into shape to play this game. My initial reaction? To clap my hands and cheer. And I can guarantee I wasn't the only one.

What is wrong with us? Why is an injury to a young man with a bright future cause for celebration?

We spend a lot of time as Christians talking about being in the world, not of the world. However, we feel like there are certain areas that we can discard that motto...sports, business, the movies we watch, whatever it might be. I can pray for someone with cancer, but if a rival blows his knee out and ruins his career and future? Bust out the foam fingers! I can give 15% at church, but if an opportunity comes to abuse something to make bigger profits? I can give 18% now! Don't lust, except when its a movie with an attractive young actress? Let's see it twice!

I appreciate Westbury for teaching me about transcendence. There are certain things that just aren't as important as we make them out to be.

Now if you'll excuse me, Colt McCoy just threw a pick. I need to go pray.

"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" Mark 8:36

Sacrifice

We've reached the second Passover in my OT class. It's been a year since the awesome and awful power of God freed the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt through the plague of the Firstborn son, and the Israelites are called to reflect on everything they've endured (which includes, but is not limited to: starvation, dehydration, death, plagues, idol worship, war) and where God has led them.

In Numbers, there is a discussion between Moses and a few of the Hebrews about the Passover and a small problem they have: they're unclean. They have come into contact with a dead body and will not be ceremonially able to observe the Passover until after the appointed time. God declares that they are to observe it a month later, but otherwise change nothing. A few verses later, a warning is fired off against people who ARE able to observe the Passover, but choose not to do so. It is decreed that they will be cut off from the community (bad) but also will bear the consequences of their sins (way way worse) due to their indiscretions.

This led to a discussion of sacrifice in one of my classes. We talked about the perfection required in the animals and how God needed something perfect in order to redeem the sin we have committed against him.

I can't imagine a world in which every thing I did wrong required a different sacrifice, and because of that, I thank God for the perfect sacrifice to free us from the bondage of sin and God's wrath: His Son. Without flaw, without imperfection, and without guilt--the only thing capable of bringing me back to God's side, a horrible death so that I might have life.

Thanks Jesus...we owe You.

"Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Isaiah 53:12

Flow

It is a comforting fact that after 2 years of Biology stuff, I was incredibly bored and burned out, but after two years of Bible, I'm still fascinated by the way that God has moved in our lives and in our history to perform His miracles and enact His plan.

Writing my first real paper in over 10 months has gotten me a little bit skittish...I feel dumb, I feel like I've forgotten more than I remember, and most of all I feel inadequate. However, as far back as I can remember (we're talking 2nd grade here), all of my best work has come from a single spark or idea, whether it was poetry or papers or essays or even Minutes for Frats. There'd be one idea that ended up unleashing a flow of ideas and work. The one idea for this paper is how Jeffersonian politics motivated and shaped the foundations of the Churches of Christ. And while that sounds boring to you readers, it fascinates me...which will hopefully lead to some great revelations about our history as well as myself.

Even though I know how this is going to work out--because I have what, 17 years of results to back it up?--it's still unnerving to not have a concrete plan all the time. And that's what has motivated me in my Bible classes at WCS...every verse, every word, every story is an intricate, passionate telling of God's great plan for us. Stories that I've always heard out of context (yay for youth ministry...) now fit perfectly into the tapestry of God's vision for us and assume a whole new vibrant life. Nothing is wasted, nothing is extra...its the best story ever told.

And it all started with a single spark of love.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever should believe in Him would not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." John 3:16-17